Kendra Stone, one of two high school seniors who take photos for their graduating peers for free as KP Photography, shows an image to a client, Gao Thor, during a shoot at Minnehaha Falls. (Photo by Phillipe Thao)

Two Mounds Park Academy students are sometimes compensated for taking senior photos for Twin Cities high-schoolers who can’t afford a professional photographer, but usually not with money.
“We’ve been paid in hugs, candy and donations,” said Kendra Stone, who lives in Lake Elmo.
That’s payment enough for the 18-year-old and Phillipe Thao of Hudson, Wis., who teamed up in May to take portraits of teens nearing graduation for free.

Northeast Metro 916 Intermediate School District plans to construct a school in Lake Elmo’s Eagle Point Business Park in 2015.
The District 916 expects the building to look similar to its newest school, Karner Blue Education Center, in Blaine. The unique floor plan, pictured above, includes open quiet space areas where agitated students can go to calm down, Superintendent Connie Hayes said. (submitted graphic)

Northeast Metro 916 Intermediate School District has entered into a purchase agreement for a $2.4 million plot of land within Lake Elmo’s Eagle Point Business Park along Interstate 94 at Inwood Avenue on the southern end of the city.
The nearly 20-acre parcel is zoned for commercial business park use and is currently a cornfield.
However, within the next couple years, those stalks of corn will be replaced by a public school for up to 150 kindergarten through 8th-grade students with autism and emotional behavioral disorders.

It came down to who showed up.
After hearing from residents who strongly opposed a sidewalk on Shawnee Drive, the North St. Paul City Council on Dec. 17 ordered a major street project in the northwest portion of the city -- without a walkway that was identified in a planning document as key to connecting two parks via the city’s trail system.

Maplewood will soon replace recycling bins with carts, costing the city $2.50 per month per household. The recycling rate for residents is already set at $2.94 per month.

Maplewood will soon roll out recycling carts, allowing residents to bring more recyclables to the curb -- and cover them with a lid.
The carts will replace all residents' topless bins by about March, tentatively, according to city staff.
The Maplewood City Council in December voted 4-1 to replace the basic bins, which have cost the city $1.75 per month per household. The new contract costs the city $2.50 per month per household the first two years, and $2.75 in 2016 and 2017.

Jerry Bell, Bill Lester reflect on the good, the bad & the ugly sides of the stadium

A 38-year-old Maplewood man jumped from the Interstate 94 bridge into the St. Croix River on New Year's Eve, and cold weather inhibited the search for his body for days, authorities say.
Passersby reportedly saw a man park a car on the shoulder of the eastbound lanes and jump. The incident was reported at about 2:23 p.m. Dec. 31, according to Cmdr. Jerry Cusick of the Washington County Sheriff's Department. Multiple agencies were dispatched to the stretch that connects Minnesota and Wisconsin.

A 38-year-old Maplewood man jumped from the Interstate 94 bridge into the St. Croix River on New Year’s Eve, and dangerously cold weather has inhibited the search for his body for nearly a week, authorities say.
Passersby reportedly saw a man park a car on the shoulder of the eastbound lanes of the freeway and jump. The incident was reported at about 2:23 p.m. Dec. 31, according to Cmdr. Jerry Cusick of the Washington County Sheriff’s Department. Multiple agencies were dispatched to the stretch that connects Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The North St. Paul City Council on Tuesday, Dec. 17, unanimously approved the city’s 2014 budget, keeping steady the total amount property owners pay for day-to-day city operations.
“We’ve spent probably about seven or eight workshops on the budget,” Mayor Mike Kuehn said at the meeting. “It was a great process.”
The expected local tax rate went down slightly, and the average household will pay less in taxes in the coming year. In general, owners whose property values went up are expected to pay more in property taxes.

Reid Swanson, a member of a University of Minnesota research team, in October measures one of the largest carp pulled from the Phalen chain of lakes. (Photo courtesy of Bill Bartodziej)

With ice still too thin to skate on, most of the action at Casey Lake in North St. Paul is bubbling beneath the surface.
City staff recently installed an aeration system at the lake, which is surrounded by sports courts, trails and a playground. Air is now being mechanically pumped into the water to keep up oxygen levels, helping native Minnesota fish stay alive over the winter to boost fishing and keep out the common carp.